The Official Birmingham City v Champions Match Day Thread

[ChippenhamRed]

So we're 21st after today's results. Probably fair to say performances have been better than 1 win in 6, but I have to say if someone offered me 21st now I would take it. With 27k seats to fill next season, survival has never been more important to this club, so even if the squad is capable of more, I would still bite your hand off just to be in this division next season.

[havanatopia]

Didn't expect this with our momentum from last season. Not digging all these loan signings In our first eleven. Looks like we'll be back to boundary park and the county ground next season

Oh Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese 

[sh1t_ref_again]

 

Some interesting stats, whilst I know someone will say what was the most important one - the score, but interesting how we dominated possession and the amount of passing. Disappointing we had some good chances and did not get them on target 

 

 

Match Statistics

 

 

40

Ball possession %

60

 

 

10

Total shots

9

 

 

6

Shots on goal

2

 

 

6

Corner kicks

3

 

 

281

Passes

418

 

 

178

Accurate Passes

311

 

 

3

Offsides

2

 

 

0

Hit Woodwork

1

 

 

0

Goalkeeper saves

2

 

 

11

Fouls

17

 

 

2

Yellow cards

3

 

[thedartmoorgeneral]

We had something special last season and failure to build on that in the closed season is a travesty and if we're relagated as a result someone's head needs to roll!

[Carey 6]

Kodjia not Codger. It's the same amount of letters  

[Phileas Fogg]

Kodjia not Codger. It's the same amount of letters  

agree! Never been funny either 

[Fordy62]

Flint is a good player. But if you take away the strongest part of his game (his aerial dominance) then he's pretty ordinary. 

Today he was dominated aerially in a way I've never seen before by Donaldson. 

[Up The City!]

Driving home stuck in traffic wondering how we lost that one. Not a pen. Should have had two ourselves in first half. Ref was totally against us. The last game should have beeb chalked off as Donaldson was impeding Franks view. The ref qas even watching the scuffle.

[BristolBornandRaised]

Been to the game today, poor referee today cost us to a point, never a penalty and a few poor decisions. That aside felt pack wasn't up to it again this season with negative play and a huge lack of marking is what lost us the game, far too easy for brum today. On a positive note kodjia looks to be growing into the English game with a well hit second.

[22A]

Sounds like Brum are like Brentford were, knowing all the tricks to get the upper hand. We either are very naive and inexperienced in the championship or are too nice. No doubt Brum are a good side but they have used other methods to be this far ahead

one offside and one pen that should not have been given - no luck at all at the moment!! Pack hits the post instead of creeping in to make it 2-2

OK folks, voting time;

Are City where they are in the table because;

1. not good enough or

2. just unlucky?

[Loco Rojo]

It makes me laugh (ironically) at the arrogance of some of our fans at the end of last season who were very vocal that the starting 11 we had are a mid to top half side in the Championship.  I think the season so far has shown just how average we are (in terms of the overall team rather than individually) in this league and how big the gulf is between league 1 and the Championship in terms of quality.  The longer this form goes on and we continue to leak goals the more that the players confidence will drop and it'll just get even harder to turn it around.  What annoys me most though is just how much damage the clubs pre season transfer policy has caused.  In football these days, Cotts and the staff had better turn things around quickly otherwise i think we all know the rest.......

It'll be a huge shame if City undo all of the fantastic work put in last season.

OR maybe i'm just having a bad day at the keyboard warrior school and everything is just rosy.

Edited September 12, 2015 by Loco Rojo

[joe jordans teeth]

Flint is a good player. But if you take away the strongest part of his game (his aerial dominance) then he's pretty ordinary. 

Today he was dominated aerially in a way I've never seen

[joe jordans teeth]

 

OK folks, voting time;

Are City where they are in the table because;

1. not good enough or

2. just unlucky?

3. Bit of both

[ChippenhamRed]

 

OK folks, voting time;

Are City where they are in the table because;

1. not good enough or

2. just unlucky?

You can't put 14 goals conceded in 6 games down to bad luck.

[samo II]

 

You can't put 14 goals conceded in 6 games down to bad luck.

That is true, but you can put a few of them down it it, and in several cases, it is those few that make the difference.

We've started slow, and look a little naive as to how ruthless this league will be, but the silver lining is that despite all this, we are competing, and with 4 in 6 (7 if you count the league cup), in Kodjia we've a striker who is finding his feet, and a couple of Premier League loan defenders stop to bed in.

Worth also mentioning Brum are no mugs; unbeaten this season so far, and think the performance and result versus Preston will be a better indicator of our long term fate.

[MC RISK77]

 

You can't put 14 goals conceded in 6 games down to bad luck.

agree, not to mention the 3 at Luton with pretty much our first choice team...

we need a plan b

[GrahamC]

It's only worrying according to your expectations. Look at who we have played; Brum (pending) in the form of their lives, MBoro - many people's tip, Sheffield Weds - free scoring forum, Brentford - many's outside tip, Burnley - largely prem squad and Leeds - solid championship fare. 

Have you really not seen enough so far across some very tough games that once we start playing lesser opposition we should tick along nicely. 

Worrying if you expected playoffs, but if you were reasonable about our opening fixtures I think our performances have been encouraging. Maybe I have my head in the sand but we're trying to go toe to toe with these established side and so they are going to be open affairs. Says a lot that it's hard to rule us out of this game already. 

Will we still be saying this when we play Derby, Wolves, the other 2 sides who came down, Reading, etc?

Our defeat there is Sheffield Wed's only win so far by the way, they'll be nearer the bottom than the top in my opinion.

[Red-Robbo]

I did question the wisdom of playing both new defenders together from the start of their first game for us.

Defenders really need to anticipate each other and build up a rapport. 

Today you had a three-man defence none of whom had played together competitively before.

[joe jordans teeth]

That is true, but you can put a few of them down it it, and in several cases, it is those few that make the difference.

We've started slow, and look a little naive as to how ruthless this league will be, but the silver lining is that despite all this, we are competing, and with 4 in 6 (7 if you count the league cup), in Kodjia we've a striker who is finding his feet, and a couple of Premier League loan defenders stop to bed in.

Worth also mentioning Brum are no mugs; unbeaten this season so far, and think the performance and result versus Preston will be a better indicator of our long term fate.

kodjia is doing well no doubt but is it because the way we play,if we decided to shut up shop and try to stop conceding goals would he still  be scoring for fun,all he can do is keep putting it in the net tho to be fair,and yes he misses a few but so did Andy Cole,looks a snip at 2 million 

[ChippenhamRed]

What bothers me most is that thanks in large to our disastrous summer recruitment, we have completely wasted the momentum built up during one of our most successful seasons ever. Competing against bigger clubs with bigger budgets, that momentum was one of the few cards we had in our hand that others didn't, and it's gone already. Already we look like what we are; one of the smaller fish in the pond.

[Red-Robbo]

What bothers me most is that thanks in large to our disastrous summer recruitment, we have completely wasted the momentum built up during one of our most successful seasons ever. Competing against bigger clubs with bigger budgets, that momentum was one of the few cards we had in our hand that others didn't, and it's gone already. Already we look like what we are; one of the smaller fish in the pond.

Nai hit firmly on head, Chip.

I wonder in retrospect if the release of the talismanic JET will prove to be a big mistake. I confess at the time I felt it was "a cruel necessity". But was it?

[old_eastender]

I'm far from a happy clapper, but not hitting the panic button yet. Seems we ain't getting the rub of the green when it matters, Pack's shot hit the post at 2-1 and a few minutes later they get a dodgy pen and it's 3-1, when it could easily have been 2-2. 60% of possession good too. What is really worrying is the ease at which opponents are scoring against us from corners, that must be 6 now.

Still we just need a bit of good luck and we could still be heading for mid-table safety. Agree with all comments that our disastrous transfer window was totally a wasted opportunity to build on the momentum we had, hopefully lessons have been learned for the future, and it won't result in us going straight back down. 

 

[HoldenBall]

Just back from the game, same old story. Cannot defend for love nor money. It's getting embarrassing now, what on earth did we do for 2 weeks leading up to this game? Every time Brum went forward they looked like scoring, and they were extremely average.

Our build up play is also so.... boring. Some players look lost out there, unable to adapt to the championship, it's all a bit of a mess really.

 

Positives: Freeman played well, Kodjia is also chipping in with goals although he missed a guilt edge chance in the first half. And our support was excellent, 1-0, 2-0 down 4-2 down we were vocal, whilst Birmingham fans were dreadful.

[Flagon]

I'm really encouraged that we've consistently played good football in each of our Championship games and look competitive to the point that in each of the games we've played you can quite realistically point to key events in any of those games that could have led to a different outcome in the overall result. However, despite all this possession and creating loads of chances the other teams have either scored the same or more than us with fewer chances. Most of these conceded have been either our error or unchallenged while at the other end we've scored but missed a lot more. 

I would sooner have this though than being played off the park and simply not in the game. We don't look and play like a relegation threatened team yet and whilst it's too early to start speaking of must win games I really do think we need two decent results in the next two against Preston and Reading like a minimum of 4 points.

It will help instill belief that the good play is getting rewarded as I bet the players will get a bit twitchy soon which is the last thing we need. 

I would like to see Agard start for Wilbs assuming he is fit enough as I just think we need that touch more pace to have something different going into a game. We've chopped around at the back through either injury or choice but not really done much with the front two at the moment to score more than we've missed while we try and sort defensive frailties. I know we've missed out on targets up front but in the meantime we've got no choice but to look within.

[BCFC Jordan]

It makes me laugh (ironically) at the arrogance of some of our fans at the end of last season who were very vocal that the starting 11 we had are a mid to top half side in the Championship. 

I genuinely think we'd have had a chance if we had been able to maintain the squad we had last year. Instead we now have a worse squad and are suffering from a lack of confidence linked to that. The people hoping for a top half finish were hoping we'd build on top of the squad we had, not weaken it.

[Lack of Action Man]

Just back from the game, a bit of an essay coming up so hang on with me.

As a team, we have retained the spirit and togetherness that defined great swathes of our campaign last year. What we are lacking now, is the ability to produce quality comparable with the standard expected in this league. Individual errors are costing us massively and former stalwarts are beginning to look questionable as to whether they should be in the team, but more on that later...

The train up was a good laugh. Managed to scout out a group of city lads from the crate of thatchers on the table. Was told by the WM police that the place to be was the Briar Rose - walk in to find it like a scene from the inbetweeners movie (dead). Never mind eh! Got chatting to a couple of decent city lads and ended up heading to the match with them. Enter St Andrews - a bit of a dissapointment of a ground if I'm being honest! I've not been there in 10 years and clearly nothing has changed since! Whilst it is a decent ground, the rejeuvenated Ashton Gate will wipe the floor with it.

The game itself was more of the same old really. Despite the addition of two premier league quality centre backs and the return of fan favourite Frankie Fielding, we looked more pourous as a team than ever, with the second goal a particular frustration - it literally seemed as though Birmingham were able to cut through us like a knife through butter. Kodjia is continuing to improve and again got himself on the score sheet which was pleasing. He also looked (at times) like the only player willing to ruffle the feathers of the Birmingham team. By this I mean, as a team, sometimes we are simply too honest. We chastise the opposition for wasting time, blocking quick free kicks and the like yet don't cotton on to do the same ourselves.

Fielding made no real difference, although he did sweep up a few crosses. I need to see the penalty again to make a decision on whether it was/wasn't but from the long distance view I had, it looked soft. On that subject, the referee gave the majority of 50/50 decisions to the home team so clearly couldn't handle the pressure of a potentially boistrous game.

I was particularly baffled as to why we didn't look to Agard to change the game and more enfuriatingly as to why Cotterill continues to persevere with Wilbraham who looked so far off the pace today he may as well have still been playing against Burnley. Serious questions need to be asked as to whether he is up to this league (imo). Freeman's inclusion in the team will have pleased the majority of fans (myself included) but I found myself becoming increasingly dissapointed with his first touch which looked (understandably) off the mark at times. If we did learn one thing from today it's that Ayling is most definately not a RWB - outdone for pace and guile virtually everytime, which made a good footballer look well out of his depth.

Overall a good day out, but MASSIVE improvement is needed from team and manager.

[Up The City!]

We need to ditch the 352. Other teams have figured it out. Listening to BBC West Midlands after the game their manager said they exploited our back 3 by pushing their wingers forward and it worked for them.

[Lew-T]

We were very naive today and have been in all the games so far. Just haven't adapted to this division!

I think we will be okay though.

[havanatopia]

Good to read the fan match reviews.

i am no football strategist but could we adopt a sweeper system, on the fly, if we see our usual system under severe strain? Ie wilbs sits in behind lone kodjia up front with Ayling dropping back, as Odd Ball says he is no RWB, into right back role, and Flint dropping into the sweeper role? He can still come up for corners of course. Of course Ayling could be benched at that moment for Williams.

[SedRA]

I'm very happy and will be happier still if we score two or three more.

I just wish some would realise:

1) this is a tough league

2) we are a bottom six side.

Fair enough, but I'm not sure trying to rub it in people's faces when we're losing really achieves anything. 

I think you've made your point many times now, and it's still nothing more than your opinion. 

No no knows how this league will pan out, football is never predictable. Fortunes change all the time (look at Chelsea for example) and just because we're having a bad start none of us have any idea how we'll finish in the table. 

The whole 'told you so' attitude is both self serving and delusioned, like you really know how things are going to play out this season. Even if you end up being right, it would still be pretty much down to coincidence, we could just have easily clicked really well and been in the playoffs, a la Brentford.